"He's the Boatman. He Stays in the Boat!"

With this ultra-violent fourth entry in the Rambo canon you're in for a small surprise: While this is by no means a good movie in itself, it's still slightly better than expected (and better than its two predecessors.)

Of course, the pretty all-American girl is not harmed by the evil Burmese military while the villagers are slaughtered. Of course, the titular hero saves the day. Of course, it's all terribly two-faced and reactionary, building up a discrepancy between Hollywood action movie tropes and the terror on real killing fields (just as it was the case in the earlier installments, except for the first part, maybe.)

But in times of bland and forgettable Hollywood action entertainment with its pseudo-clever lines and outrageous situations, this (literally) visceral down-to-earth approach earns some extra points. It really gets to you in a smutty kind of way.

3 out of 10 sonorously mumbled laconic statements

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Desperate Screenplay

Predictably entertaining and simple-minded Warner Bros. war heroics with Flynn and his comrades crossing hostile Nazi Germany, behaving like a bunch of boy scouts on a scavenger hunt, while striking down lots and lots of stupid German soldiers.

Way too much half-baked comedy relief and anthemic background music, not to mention the weak plot, prevent this from being one of the more watchable Flynn adventures. In fact, from here on Flynn's movies started to decline in quality.

It's still a fun ride in its silly way.

4 out of 10 spit pepper corns

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Blind Puzzling

While not quite as monstrously preposterous as later works, this slow-moving, repetitive giallo offers some nice touches in the first half, but grows more and more lethargic and silly as it stumbles to its lame denouement.

To be sure, the actors are above average - considering this is an Argento movie - and some moments show the director's visual skills, but whole sequences should've been cut and, basically, it's just the same exploitative trash as ever, wallowing in fake science and abnormal sexual depravity.

3 out of 10 genetic disorders

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Call Me "The Sphinx", "The Hunchback", "The Black Pope" or Just "Il Divo"

This ultra-slick, highly stylized account of Giulio Andreotti's Machiavellian schemes during his premiership(s) goes down like butter, but in the final analysis, the pic's a tad too flashy and trivial in its depictions of dirty politics. There's a certain lack of insight, professionally covered up by lots of technical shenanigans and eye-catching performances, above all Toni Servillo's chameleon-like turn in the title role.

It's still worthwhile Italian film-making with the right amount of humour, violence and tragedy to warrant two enjoyable hours.

7 out of 10 sardonic aphorisms

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Find Inner Peace with Schubert

Just when you hoped to escape heavy-handed German pretentiousness it sneaks up on you, hidden in highly metaphorical intonations of Schubert's great song cycle "Winterreise", which accompanies Josef Bierbichler's (inner) journey from wintry Bavaria to arid Kenya, from captivating mental depression to liberation.

But for most of the time, despite Kekilli's wooden turn and some other positively eccentric acting in the supporting roles, it's a decent enough pic because Bierbichler stems it on his broad shoulders. He offers a real tour-de-force performance, aided by the accentuated direction and camera-work.

It could've been so much better without the arty touches of the later stages.

6 out of 10 phantom suns

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Alice Darkly Twisted

Stop-motion animation is such a laborious task, particularly when presented in feature-length, that those few examples that are finally distributed are almost exclusively works of high quality both in form and content.

That's especially true for Henry Selick's meticulously crafted Gothic tales with their wicked sense of humour and their intuition for the magic of the bizarre. His latest work - a clever twist on "Alice in Wonderland" with subliminally menacing picture-perfect happiness replacing Carroll's liberating nonsense - succeeds in all the right departments, from the gorgeous vistas, the haunting score, the great character design and voice-work, the countless sight-gags, the well-paced narrative up to the balanced mixture of heart and brains.

The story is a tad too episodic and the showdown slightly disappoints, though. But it's a wonderful pic, anyway.

8 out of 10 button eyes

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More Than Just a Pet

Most film-makers who deal with a story featuring a boy/girl and his/her pet go for the heartstrings by underlining both the kid's and the animal's cuteness. The narrative structure holding this picturesque idyll together mainly consists of predictable melodramatic incidents that endanger this relationship.

One of Loach's best pics undermines this soapy approach by intensifying the unaffectedly portrayed boy-pet relationship through the unflinchingly bleak description of the boy's surroundings. Kes is not just a beloved falcon, he represents a way to endure social hardships.

This earnest, heartfelt drama is a true gem of British working-class cinema.

8 out of 10 funny football matches

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